Developing our ministry - and building 

Minister Geoff Bentley shares an update on how Aintree Baptist Church is building God's kingdom in its community

Back in 2017, two Baptist churches began a journey together; Aintree Village Family Church and Aintree Baptist Church. One had a building but with dwindling numbers, the other with no church building but with a minister. It was clear to both congregations that joining together would encourage both churches.
 
The mission began to take shape and an understanding of the future vision for the church began. A Sunday School was started, a mid-week baby and toddler group called ‘Jolly Babies’ began and soon a good number of local parents and toddlers began to join and the numbers grew each week. Work with our local primary school also took place, with RE lessons taking place within the church as well as assemblies.
 

“Unless the Lord builds the house, the builders labour in vain” Psalm 127:1

The church building was looking tired and so we began to upgrade the building with new oak internal doors, a disabled toilet, decorating throughout and a clean-up on the outside. The church was excited about the prospects.

Then Covid hit, and hit us hard. Like everyone in the country, we met as a church congregation online. We teamed up with the NHS and became the first church in the area to offer our premises for the administration of vaccinations with the help of the army. We were informed that more than 20,000 people came through the church premises during this period.
 
Once we were all able to come back into the church building, we noticed how it was looking very tired and needed some investigation. A surveyor was appointed and soon gave us the news we didn’t want to hear; the main chapel was unsafe for us to use and we had to stop using that part of the building.

So, we moved our meetings into our smaller hall.  We praise the Lord that we had this extra room and this is still the part of our premises we continue to meet in. But where do we go now?
 
The surveyor we previously worked with steered us through plans for a new church premises. We took these plans to the local council, however the plans were knocked back time and again.

So, in 2024, we employed a new architect firm to assist us in this journey. Since then, many meetings have been held, with attendees from the youngest to the eldest members of our church family.  We met together and discussed the needs and vision of the church.
 
The church congregation raised more than £50,000. We submitted a new set of plans to the Liverpool Council planning office - and this time they were successful. 

The renovation of the main church and a rebuilding of the remainder of the site  would increase the capacity of the building, as well as offer better facilities to work with our local community. It is exciting news for both church and community.

We now need to raise around £600k for the first phase, and are already planning sponsor events like abseiling down Anfield stadium and Liverpool Cathedral.  
 
Since moving into our smaller hall, God has continued to increase the number of people attending our weekly worship services. The children’s work has increased with parents and carers also coming along. 

Our church congregation is incredibly diverse and we are blessed with members from a variety of ethnic groups. In October we hosted our first evangelical training for the Portuguese community, as well as training individuals in church leadership, preaching and evangelism.

We are committed to developing the members of our congregation and encourage them to use their God-given gifts for the development of His church here in Aintree.


 
The picture shows what our church premises could look like in the future. If you would like to join us on our journey, please get in touch!  

Whether you can pray, financially give or offer any support, we would love to hear from you. Use the contact details below to get in touch.

May the Lord bless you and guide you.
 
In Jesus Name

The Revd Geoff Bentley is minister of Aintree Baptist Church; contact him on: Geoff.abc@outlook.com